A Change of Heart
by Kat Willows
Summary: Katrina Willows is you're average 17 year old witch. That is, if being filthy rich, a prankster, hopeless in potions, and traveling to the future 20 years and meeting someone who changes her fate forever is normal.
1. What happened?

There was a slight wind, then there were two people sprawled out on the hogwarts grounds, under an oak tree, these two people were familiar to the grounds and castle, but not to many of the people there. These two people were Juliet Callista and Katrina Willows, both born in 1959, both complete opposites, and they were best friends. Heck, they even looked alike, Raven black hair, same height of 5'7'', same color skin, the only real physical differences were that Kat had vibrant blue eyes and Juliet had storm cloud gray eyes, and that Juliet's hair was all the way down her back, while Kat's hair was only to her shoulders.

The _real_ differences these two had were on the inside. They were nothing like each other, anyone would know that if the knew them. Kat was a mischievous prankster, and Juliet was a quiet book worm. The only reason they had ever become friends was because Kat had decided that Juliet needed to be a walking billboard for gryffindor one day in third year, and they had been friends ever since. Weird way to become friends you say? You obviously have no clue who Kat is. Kat, or the queen of pranks as some of her friends call her, is _very_ well known for making friends in odd ways.

The most well known way for her to make friends is through being in detention with them, which is where she spent most of her time during term time. Heck, she was in detention more than in class, weather it be for a planned prank, or just her temper getting loose at a bad moment for it to do so. But, she has made friends by way of pranking them before, some people don't know how to laugh at themselves, but some do, and she tended to be friends with the people who were big enough to laugh at themselves.

Well anyway, back to the story, who really cares why Kat becomes friends with people anyway, right? Kat sat up, you could tell it was Kat because she was the one with shorter hair. There was a large cut on the left of her forehead, it was oozing blood, and she put and hand to it to stop it's bleeding some. "Hey Jules, get up! Something weird happened, we're outside" you could hear her saying to her unconscious friend.

Okay, okay, she's a bit on the loony side, so? This is coming from a girl who thinks all sane people belong in insane asylums. But anyway, Juliet looked up, so maybe she wasn't that loony after all. Juliet sat up and looked at her friend.

"Kat? What happened? Oh, what did you _do_? How in bloody hell did you get us out _here_, are you really _that_ bad at potions?!" Juliet asked her best friend, then amended "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that"

"S'ok, I have no clue what I did, all I remember is an explosion, then we were here" Kat said, shrugging at her friend. Kat looked around again as Juliet tried to stand up. She wavered on her feet and almost fell, clutching a tree for support. Kat immediately stood up, she wasn't all that steady on her feet herself, she made a grab for a branch she knew was there on the oak tree… and missed it and fell.

"What the heck?! The tree grew, at least three feet" Kat exclaimed, standing up again and leaning on the tree, looking up at the branch that was now higher up on the tree.

Juliet looked up at the tree "Your right! I didn't know trees grew that fast!" she then looked at Kat again, and saw the cut "We should go find someone to help us out, maybe the hospital wing, or Dumbledore, we need to figure out what you did wrong for sure." Juliet told her friend, as always, Juliet was the sensible one.

"Yeah, your right Jules, we should go to Dumbledore, but I'm not, under any circumstances, going to go to the hospital wing, the nurses hate me, remember?" Kat said to her best friend.

"Right, I forgot, them come on, lets get up to Dumbledore's office" Juliet said, she and Kat supported each other as they started to walk up to the castle, both woozy and unsteady on their feet, Kat still bleeding. As they mounted the steps and entered the castle they noticed that _no one_ looked familiar, they had no clue who anyone was.

"This is weird, I usually know everyone, for my pranks, but I… don't recognize anyone here…" Kat said, looking around uneasily.

"Yeah, I don't see anyone I know either, well, lets get to Dumbledore, he'll have some answers" Juliet said to Kat, who nodded and they went on their slow way toward the headmaster's office.

"Hey! You two, are you new here? What happened to get you so beat up?" They heard an unfamiliar girl address them. Kat looked at this girl suspiciously, she had bushy brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a gryffindor uniform, though the uniform was different than what Juliet and herself were wearing.

"Are you a library rat or something? No, we're not new here, we're seventh years. The name's Kat, but most of my friends refer to me as the queen of pranks" Kat said, a smirk appearing on her face as she looked at the girl with an appraising glance.

"I've never heard of you, you two should probably get to the hospital wing, you both look like you need it" The girl said in a know-it-all tone, this made Kat scowl.

"Actually, we were on our way to see Professor Dumbledore" Juliet amended quickly, not giving Kat a chance to do anything Kat-ish to this girl. Kat did mock eye-role and glared at her friend, her eyes were clearly stating that Juliet had ruined her fun.

"Well, I'll help you get there, you really should be going to see the nurse though. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way" Hermione introduced herself, she had the heir of someone who know what was best for these girls more than they did.

"Juliet Callista, and we won't be needing help" Juliet said politely, she wasn't really liking this girl.

"Come on Jules, I just hope he didn't change the password" Kat said, and her and Juliet started up the stair case that would bring them to the right floor. But no such luck, Hermione followed.

"I'll go with you anyway, in case there are any problems, I'm a prefect, it's my job to sort out problems" the brown haired girl said.

Kat chose to ignore the girl and said to Juliet "Hey, I thought the new Gryffindor prefects were Lisa and Rob?" those were the names of the sixth years who were prefects in Gryffindor after all.

Juliet shrugged "Maybe Dumbledore changed them?" she looked a bit confused though. They hurried on their way, they wanted to know what was going on, Hermione following after, trying to figure out something about the 'new students'. They were making good progress, considering that Juliet and Kat could only walk so fast.

"Well, well, well, the mud blood has made some new friends" a voice drawled from behind them. Kat turned around immediately, letting go of Juliet as she did this, and Juliet had to lean against the wall to support herself. She saw Lucius Malfoy, or at least she thought it was Lucius.

"Go away Malfoy, unless you want me to do to you something similar that I did to your dear Narcissa, if I remember correctly, she won't be out of the hospital wing for another week" Kat said immediately, she hated anyone who used that word, there was nothing wrong with being muggle born. The fact that it was Malfoy, well, lets just say if he didn't beat it this wouldn't be pretty.

Malfoy raised his eye brows, apparently surprised. "Don't talk about my mother like that, and I doubt you could do anything to her, or me for that matter, why should I 'go away'? I'm a prefect, detention Miss…" he told her, obviously peeved by Kat's reaction to what he said.

Juliet smirked and gave off a 'heh' then said "Bad choice, now your gunna get it", and smirked at her best friend, Kat had an evil grin on her face.

"The name is Katrina Willows, and I won't be getting detention. You say dear 'Cissa is your mother? Lucius, what are you trying to pull here? I just don't get it, I mean, it's a pity I had to turn her into a slug, yes, but do I really have to do the same to you?" Kat said, her grin turning into a smirk as she saw that Malfoy was outraged.

"Lucius, that's my father's name, what are _you_ trying to pull? That will be two detentions then, and you will address me as Mr. Malfoy, Sir, or Draco, though I doubt you will ever have the honor to call me Draco, I don't let many people use my first name" Draco told her, his voice was in a near hiss.

"Draco?!" Kat said, amused, she cracked up laughing just to annoy him. Juliet had an amused smirk, she knew what was going to happen and for once she wasn't going to go away or intervene. Draco pulled out his wand.

"Oh, the little Malfoy bastard has a wand, I'm so scared" Kat said, drawing her own wand. "I never knew dear 'Cissa was such a slut, by the looks of you, she would have had to have had you when she was around 6, so I guess your father has had this infatuation for longer than I knew." she added, pointing her wand idly at Draco.

"Don't talk of my parents like that" Draco said, obviously incensed, Kat was just smirking.

"Hey Jules, looks like little dragon here is angry" Kat said to her friend, then looked at Draco again and said "Temper temper".

Draco said a spell, an odd one, but Kat shouted "Protengo" before it hit her. She was well practiced in duels. She then muttered a spell, it hit him, and he was turned into a giant slug. "What color Jules?" she asked her friend, Juliet would know what she was talking about.

"I'm rather partial to blue myself" Juliet replied, she didn't usually take part in pranks, but this guy seemed to deserve it.

"You got it" Kat said, then muttered another spell, making the slug that was Draco start to glow a florescent blue. "Come on, lets get to Dumbledore." She said, putting her wand away and going over to Juliet again.

"Right" Jules said, and they went back to supporting each other and walking down the hall way, they had sort of forgotten about Hermione. But Hermione, well, she hadn't forgotten about them.

"How'd you do that?!" she asked, catching up with Kat and Juliet.

"It's called charms and transfiguration, you might want to practice spells every once in a while" Kat replied coolly, she found that it wasn't going to work, ignoring this girl. They kept walking, and were soon at the gargoyle that was the entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Licorice" Kat said, the gargoyle didn't move. "Damnit! I was just here last week too! He had to change the password, huh?" she almost yelled. "Start naming candies" Kat advised them, this was going to take some thought.

"Candy cane, chocolate bar, drouble's best blowing gum, fizzing wizzbys, uh.. Acid pops, sugar quills, chocolate ink, gum drops, grape heads, umm.." Kat wracked her brain for candy names.

"I think it's chocolate frogs" Hermione chipped in, the gargoyle still didn't move. Kat continued to rattle off names of candies.

Eventually, when she said "Laffy Taffy" the gargoyles jumped to the side, Kat smirked at Hermione then stepped onto the moving stair case with Juliet. To both girl's dismay, Hermione followed, muttering something about "He must have changed it…". Oh well, they were there now, it didn't really matter, they needed answers.

Kat just opened the door and went right in without even knocking, she didn't feel like waiting, and when Professor Dumbledore looked up from something, he dropped his quill and said "Gods!". This was the first time any of the girls had seen the headmaster startled by anything. But Dumbledore was obviously startled, and it wasn't just because Kat just barged into his office, he had seen Kat and Juliet, and his eyes had widened, and he had dropped his quill, one question was going through Kat's mind "Has he finally gone nuts-oh?"


	2. Future?

They stood like that for at least five minutes, the headmaster staring at Kat and Juliet, Kat barely in the door, Juliet right behind her, and Hermione in the back wondering what the heck was going on. Then, Dumbledore smiled, a large, happy smile, maybe it didn't all have to happen the way it did after all.

"Miss. Willows, Miss. Callista, if you would, take a seat, I would like to know just how you got here today." Dumbledore said, putting aside whatever it was he had been working on and gesturing to two chairs in front of his desk. Kat, having been in the headmaster's office many times before, merely shrugs and sat down. Juliet however hesitated, but sat down anyway. Hermione awkwardly stood by the door, unsure of what was going on.

"Erm, headmaster, uh, we'd like to know what's going on, you see, we were practicing potions, and, erm.. Then we were outside, and everything's changed around" Juliet said, Kat smirked, Jules wasn't usually this brave.

"Well Miss. Callista, it seems, if I am not very much mistaken, you have come forward in time, about 20 years forward in time" Dumbledore answered. Kat raised a skeptic eye brow, and thought about what she had seen today.

"So, it's 1997?" Juliet asked, a bit confused, that might just have been the after effects of the potion though. The headmaster nodded.

"Hey, in that case, can I go look for myself? I want to see myself as an auror!" Kat said, standing up.

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that Miss Willows, we wouldn't want you to end up killing off your past or future self, and we can't have you changing fate" Dumbledore said calmly. "Now, how did you get here?" he asked as Kat sat down again.

"My abysmal potions skills, Sir. Jules was helping me and my potion blew up, then we were here, outside" Kat answered, it all made sense now, Hermione gasped.

"Professor, could she have accidentally made a time warp potion?!" the brown haired girl asked, awe in her voice. Dumbledore smiled at Hermione, then looked from Kat to Juliet, this was not going to be a good thing.

"Indeed Miss Granger, I do think that it what has happened." Dumbledore said, still looking at Kat and Jules. More pronounced though was the fact that he was looking at Kat, she was a prankster, and he remembered well the fact that she had hated Severus in school, it had almost gotten to the level of the marauders and Snape. But Severus had never whole heartedly retaliated toward Kat, as to why the headmaster could only guess.

But this presented a problem, the only way to get them back was a potion, they needed to work with the potion's master. "I will ask you two to please go with Miss Granger to the potions master, explain to him that he needs to make a potion to bring you back to your time, he will know what is needed" Dumbledore told them, and nodded his head as a way to dismiss them.

Kat nodded and stood, Juliet nodded also, and said "Thank you headmaster" she went to stand, but fell down again, those injuries again.

"Ah, here" Dumbledore said, picking up his wand he muttered a few words and healed Juliet and Kat with a spell.

"Thanks Sir!" Kat said with a smile, well, at least she hadn't been bored all this time. Kat and Juliet headed out of the office in front of Hermione, who followed them. Once they were back in the corridor Hermione took the lead, saying "This way" and sounding like she was in charge. It was lucky she had her back turned, or she would have seen Kat role her eyes and Juliet restrain Kat from taking out her wand.

"Who's the potions master anyway?" Juliet asked, attempting to keep things civil.

"Professor Snape, he isn't that pleasant" Hermione replied, still leading the way to the dungeons.

"Snape?" Kat stopped in her tracks "As in Severus Snape?" when Hermione nodded Kat went on. "Your saying that I have to get help from Snivellus? Oh, this is bloody brilliant!" she proclaimed, her mood obviously not a good one. Juliet sighed, she just hoped Snape wouldn't hold a grudge for 20 years. Hermione raised an eye brow but continued on the way to Professor Snape's office, that was where he would most likely be.

Kat had a cold expression on her face as she followed after Hermione, Juliet just followed, hoping Kat and Snape wouldn't kill each other until after the potion was made. They reached the door and Hermione knocked, it was a few moments until they heard someone say "Enter" in an annoyed voice. Hermione walked away then, she didn't need to be there for this.

Kat opened the door and let Juliet walk in first, then she followed her friend in, and set an icy glare at her enemy, Severus Snape. "We need to go back in time 20 years, the headmaster told us you would help" she stated coldly as the professor looked at them, seemingly stunned.

Snape soon snapped out of it though, and, having understood what had happened, said "Come with me" in a voice just as cold as Kat's. He led them into his private store room and to a cabinet toward the back, it was full of books, he looked through these and finally picked up one that looked particularly unpleasant. He leafed through the pages until he found the correct potion and set about getting the correct jars of ingredients.

"Take these into my office" he said, handing the girls some of the jars, he couldn't carry them all himself. Kat rolled her eyes and Juliet and Kat exited the store room and went into his office, Kat putting the jars down on his desk.

Meanwhile, in the store room, Severus Snape was thinking about something he hadn't thought of in quite some time. She was there, right in the next room, should he say something? Maybe if he did her fate would be different. He was having emotions he had thought long buried, thinking thoughts he had suppressed so much he thought he no longer was capable of them. But she hated him, he knew, he had known that for 22 years now, but he had to do something.

Just seeing her, she may have been acting coldly, but she was there. He was an adult now, he'd tell her, he had to. When he had been younger it had seemed so all important to keep it a secret, when her best friend Juliet had found out he had made sure she wouldn't tell. But now, now he knew that if he never said anything things wouldn't even have a chance at changing. So he would tell her, he decided, he had to.

He gathered up the rest of the things needed for the potion and headed into his office again, to see Kat talking with Juliet, when he entered she looked up. "Snivellus, if you poison me, or do anything wrong, I swear, it won't be a pleasant experience for you" Kat told him, giving him a death glare. Juliet just shook her head and looked away.

"Miss Willows, if you intend to get back to your time so you can have a future without us hexing each other to bits, I believe we will need to be at least civil toward each other, if you think you can handle that" Severus replied. His defenses were kicking in, you insult him he insulted you back, it was almost instinct with him, he didn't want it to be with her though.

Kat rolled her eyes "Whatever you say, _Snape_" she said, saying his last name like it was a swear word, but at least it was an improvement. Kat remembered all the horrible things he had said and done, remembered the greasy haired kid who was way too in-to the dark arts, and she hated him, simply because she thought he hated her.

Severus chose to ignore that and started the potion, carefully measuring everything and putting it into the cauldron. This was a very complex potion, everything had to be done just so. So he worked, choosing to ignore Kat and Juliet's conversation, eventually all that was left was to stir it for 20 minutes, then let it simmer for 5. He looked up from his work at Kat, who noticed his gaze and asked "_what?!_" defensively, she thought he was glaring at her.

He closed his eye, biting back a retort, and said "Miss Callista, would you please stir this counter clockwise while I have a word with Miss Willows?" to Juliet. Juliet gave him a confused look until he looked her in the eyes and nodded, then she seemed to understand. Juliet nodded and started stirring the concoction. Kat raised her eye brows and said "Whatever" and went out into the hall with him, he led her into an empty class room and shut the door.

Severus was just relieved that she had agreed to talk with him, he noticed she had one of her hands in her pocket, she probably had it on her wand, in case he decided to hex her, well, she was in for a surprise. He turned to her and looked at her, suddenly not knowing what to say exactly. She had made him back into that quiet school boy, turned him into that from the dangerous, intimidation potions master.

"Well?" Kat said after a few minutes passed by. Severus had been looking into her eyes, but now looked away.

"Look, Kat, I know you think I hate you, and you hate me. But… I don't hate you, I.. I've liked you since fifth year" Severus admitted, looking down, expecting her to slap him or something, but that never happened.

"What?" Kat asked in a quiet voice, not believing what she was hearing. No, this wasn't right, she only pranked on people and hexed people who disliked her, but, if he had liked her for that long… She suddenly felt really guilty.

Surprised and glad that she hadn't slapped him, Severus looked up again. He looked into Kat's eyes again, and said "I didn't really notice you until fourth year, and ignored you when I did, then the next year, I just, started seeing you around a lot more, you were so beautiful. I developed feelings for you, you were kind, and brave, and smart, and funny, and outspoken. Then you started hanging around Black more, and you started teasing me like he did, except, you never humiliated me like the others, you always seemed to make sure there wasn't a big crowd around to see. You teased and tormented me, but my feelings for you never changed, I took to looking at you when you weren't looking.

"Juliet noticed this, and I made her promise not to tell you, and I waited to see if you would figure it out. The only reason it ever seemed that I hated you was because I thought you hated me, I was probably right. I couldn't just stand there and take it, I had to do something, so I tried to act towards you the way I did toward Potter and Black, but couldn't bring myself to curse you, so I used words. I'm sorry for that now, and I know you'll probably hate me anyway, but I needed you to know"

Kat looked, if anything, shocked. "Um.. I.. Err.." her brain wasn't working well enough for her to formulate a sentence. She was flattered that he felt that way, especially after all she had done to him. She was shocked too, he didn't hate her, she could tell he wasn't lying. She broke the eye contact and looked at the floor. "I'm sorry I was so horrible to you" she said in a quiet voice, Kat was _never_ quiet.

Severus still looked at her, he said "It's alright, I forgive you". He saw that she was looking at the floor, and on an impulse he moved his hand to under Kat's chin and lifted her face up so she was holding her head high, like he remembered her doing in school. Well, she knew now, now all that had to happen was to get her back to her time…. "Oh Shit!" he said before turning and exiting the class room and going into his office, where he found Jules still stirring the cauldron, he had her stop and set the heat of the fire to let the concoction simmer.

Kat followed after him, looking thoughtful, she looked at Juliet face, and instantly stopped looking thoughtful, because she laughed.

"Shut up! My arm fell asleep!" Juliet told her laughing friend, Jules was rubbing her arm and had a look on her face like she had just lost someone she loved. Five minutes passed and Severus poured the potion into two goblets, turned to them, and said "You have five minutes until that goes bad." But Kat didn't want to go for some reason, she looked at Severus, and he looked at her.

"OH LORD! Get a room you two!" Juliet exclaimed, looking between the two. "Look, if you guys want to be happy forever, all Kat has to do is be nice to Severus when we get back, hurry up! Only three minutes left!"

Kat looked at Juliet and smirked, then looked at Severus again and said "I think I will, bye… Severus" then she downed the potion, Juliet doing the same, they started to fade into nothingness, as Severus watched them fade, he thought "I just hope everything is fine, and at least she knows, but, hey! She called me Severus!". This was a good day for the potions master, sure, he could hold a grudge for a really long time, like with Black and Potter, but with crushes, the amount of time he could hold them made him holding a grudge look like a second.

Kat and Juliet landed under the same oak tree they had been under in the future, and looked around. Kat spotted him first, there he was, Severus. Kat turned to her friend and said "What do I do?!". Sure, she found out he liked her, she basically heard him profess love for her in that class room, that didn't stop the feeling of hatred she had toward him, all she knew was she didn't want to hate him anymore, so she looked to Juliet for answers.


	3. Hopes, chances, and a Tutor?

Juliet looked at her friend and said "Standing up would be a good start" sounding amused, they had landed sprawled out on the ground again.

"Right" Kat said, she had sat up, standing would probably be a good plan. She looked over at Severus again, he was reading some sort of book, she instinctively thought 'dark arts', then amended herself by thinking 'no, you've got to give him a chance'. She looked at Jules and said "I can't do it" simply, and sat down again, but this time closer to the tree.

Juliet rolled her eyes "Kat, you can flirt with Sirius, you can pull pranks and get away with them, you can stare down an accusing teacher, but you can't talk to Severus Snape?" she asked, scooting over to sit next to Kat.

"Exactly, this is different Jules, I've acted like I hated him since fifth year. What am I supposed to say? Do? How am I supposed to act? How do I know he won't just think it's a trick? Oh, and I don't flirt with Sirius, we're strictly friends, it's not like he'd like me back anyway." Kat said to her friend, voicing some of what was going on in Kat's head. Well, at least a little bit, but for most people it was impossible to even remotely make any sense of the way Kat's brain worked.

Juliet rolled her eyes "It can't be that hard, I'll go get him" she told Kat and walked away, not letting Kat get the chance to tell her not to. So Kat watched as Juliet went over to the diligently reading Severus and talked with him. She honestly wished she'd talk for longer, or he'd refuse to come over thinking it was a trick, or that he'd be like the Snape she had always thought of before and hex her for no reason. Well, not a bad curse, just something that would make Jules give up.

But no such luck, Juliet told him something and he looked mad, then looked at Kat, then said something to Juliet, who shook her head and said something else. As Kat watched she was trying to figure out what she'd do, it wasn't like she had ever considered Snape as anything but an enemy, she was just confused, basically, but a confused Kat wasn't always such a good thing, example: Potions.

Well, anyway, she continued to watch until Severus stood up, closing his book, Juliet said something to him, then she saw her best friend walk off into the castle. 'oh great, my best friend deserts me, wonderful, what great friends I have…" Kat thought, seeing this. She wasn't happy about talking to Snape like this in the first place, and now she didn't have a friend to back her up, or whatever you wanted to call it.

Kat saw Severus walking toward her, and looked away, once he got to her she said "'Lo, Severus" simply. It was the first time he'd heard her say his actual name, though it was the second time she'd used it for him. Severus raised an eye brow and took a seat next to her.

"'Lo, Kat." he replied simply, putting his book to the side, and looking at her as if in awe of a miracle. What was going on in his mind? That was what Kat wished she could know, she'd probably be freaked out, or touched by what he was thinking, actually.

Severus' thoughts at the moment:

Wow, she's beautiful, and she used my name! I wish she'd look at me though, well, she's probably feeling weird since I'm sort of staring at her, I should look away, but she's just -so- beautiful, I can't. I wonder how she found out, Juliet said that she didn't find out from her, so where? Almost no one knows… Maybe she figured it out on her own, I wouldn't be surprised, she's really smart. But wait, this could all be a trick, a joke, she could hit me with a curse any second, or Black could jump out from somewhere… But why doesn't it feel like a joke then?…

Yep, he had a lot running through his mind at the moment, but it was nothing compared with Kat's thoughts, which went from 'what do I do now' to 'I wonder why the grass is green, why can't the chloroplasts be purple?'. Yes, a little random, but remember, this is KAT, she IS a little random, and she thinks about just about everything constantly.

"Look, I know how you feel, and I'm willing to give it a chance, one chance, not being enemies with you, I'm not promising anything. But I don't feel comfortable hating someone who doesn't hate me" Kat said, deciding on the best way to put it. She still wasn't looking at him, but staring resolutely across the lake.

If she had been looking at Severus she would have seen the attentiveness in his face as he listened to her words, and the happiness once she had finished. All of his thoughts at that moment could basically be summed up with one word 'YAY!', but something was bugging him, how had she found out?

"H.. How'd you find out? Juliet said she didn't tell you…" Severus voiced his question quietly, this was luck he was riding on, any moment she could decide not to give him the chance, so he didn't want to push it.

"Oh simply, my brilliant failure at potions made a time warp potion, it brought Jules and myself twenty years into the future. Well, after much deliberation between Jules, this annoying Hermione girl, and Dumbledore we went to you for help, you were the potions master, and before you sent me and Jules back you told me." Kat explained like it was the most normal thing in the world, that was Kat for you, being casual over something someone else would think was a big deal.

Severus raised a skeptic eye brow, this was -really- seeming like a prank in disguise. "Really…?" he said doubtingly, and his doubt showed in his voice.

"Yes, really, you said that you noticed me in fourth year, but started liking me in fifth year, that you thought I was beautiful, and smart, and outspoken, and kind, and brave, and funny. You told me that Jules found out and you made her promise to not say anything, and that the only reason it ever seemed that you hated me was because you had to retaliate somehow. But you could never retaliate like you do with James and Sirius. Then me and Jules took the potion and came back" Kat explained, still acting as if it was the simplest thing in the world, she was, after all, just repeating facts.

Severus just looked at her, a bit stunned. Everything she said about how he felt was true, no one but he knew those things, she had to be telling the truth. But how had she managed to make a time warp potion? That was REALLY advanced, not even he could make one, and he was the best at potions in seventh year. "How the heck did you manage to go forward in time?" he asked the most obvious question.

"Simple, I'm the worst in our year at potions, I cause both minor and massive explosions in potions class once a week, all I had to do was mess up really, really bad, even for me" Kat answered bluntly, leaning back against the tree they were under.

Indeed, it was well known, Kat was horrible at potions, and Severus knew that. "Well, in hopes of stopping you from transporting yourself to a different dimension next time, I'd like to offer to tutor you in potions" he said to Kat. If he was supposed to be a potions teacher he better get started, and how better to start than with tutoring Kat? It would give her a chance to see the real him, and probably help her not blow up a potion every week.

Kat finally looked at Severus, her gaze was an appraising one. "If your okay with being covered in goo… and all that" she replied, looking across the lake again, she seemed glad though, Severus was the best at potions in the school, besides the potions professor. So she'd be tutored by the guy, no problem, she figured he probably wanted to take her up on that chance she had given him.

Severus smirked. No, not a smile, but that was only because he didn't smile. "It's fine, err… well, we should work out a time and place to meet, about once a week?" he prodded, he didn't want to push his luck, so he was being cautious.

Kat thought about this for a minute, quiddich practice on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, Mondays were hard enough, Fridays she was usually busy with doing nothing or hanging out with friends, and Sunday was her 'day of rest'-translation: she planed pranks on Sunday. So there was one day to meet up "How about Wednesdays, like, around 5-ish?" she suggested, it would give her a chance to goof off after class but also give her time to do homework after dinner. Homework was actually usually done on Wednesday with Kat, it was her work night, but she'd just have to space it out more.

You see, Kat HAD to get her potions NEWT, she wanted to be an Auror, that meant she needed to fill the requirements. So she would have Severus as a tutor, and she'd get better at potions, or never succeed with her dream of becoming a dark wizard catcher. She saw Severus smile, well, he seemed willing to get blown apart, so she would take his help.

"Yes, that works out on my schedule" Severus said, still smirking.

Kat realized something, she had a detention soon, she glanced at her watch. Correction, she had a detention that started five minutes ago. "I got to go, detention, I'll meet you in the library on Wednesday at 5!" she said, standing up, she didn't wait for his answer, just sprinted toward the castle, it was bad enough this wasn't her only detention piled up, now she would probably have to make up for being late by staying with the teacher even later than she had expected.

****

Months rolled by, Kat and Severus met up each Wednesday in the library for Kat to be tutored in potions. The first quiddich game came and went, Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw 230 to 120, and Kat continued to get detentions. Soon enough it was November, and there was a Hogsmead weekend coming up, the second one of the year.

"You get Remus to go to Hogsmead with you yet?" Kat asked Juliet, they were outside by the lake again, Kat was working on a potions essay, and Juliet was reading something or other. Kat was the only one besides Juliet who knew about Juliet's crush on Remus, just as Juliet was the only one other than Kat who know about Kat's crush on Sirius.

Juliet let out a laugh "You have to be kidding me! He'd never go out with me! He doesn't even know I exist!" she told her friend, seemingly amused at the idea. "Have you asked Sirius yet?" she then asked her friend.

"Yeah right, Sirius would never want to go with me, besides, he probably already has a date with one of those bimbos in his 'fan club'. Not to mention the fact that since I've stopped teasing Severus with him we don't hang out so much." Kat said to her friend, looking up from her essay. Kat had gotten Sirius and James to tone it down a bit on the teasing, but the still did hex Severus a lot.

Kat still pranked, don't get me wrong, she just didn't single a single person out anymore, she had larger scale pranks now, that usually involved a whole house, not just a few people. So she didn't hang around with Sirius so much anymore, they were still pretty good friends though, she wasn't willing to lose his friendship over a crush she had had on him since first year.

"You don't give yourself enough credit you know. Have you seen the way he looks at you sometimes?" Juliet asked Kat with a smirk.

"Your hallucinating, okay? He doesn't like me back, and I'm not about to ruin the friendship I have with him to prove that to you" Kat replied simply.

"Fine, think what you want" Juliet said, she wasn't going to fight with Kat over this, Kat was too stubborn for her to ever win anyway. Juliet read and Kat worked in silence for a little while, for once Kat was doing her potions homework on her own, she hadn't asked for help at all, not once, and this was one of the hardest assignments they had gotten all year.

Of course, it was taking her longer than usual, this assignment, but she wanted to get it right. She was actually doing a lot better in potions than she had been before, she knew her ingredients like the back of her hand. She could tell moon stone dust from granite dust in a heartbeat, and that was usually hard for even people who had mastered the art of potions to do. She had always been that good with ingredients, that's how she had made it into NEWT level potions, it was just the combining of those ingredients that she had trouble with.

That sort of thing came with being wiccan, you learned the names of the things you worked with, or you got stuck in otherworld, or you left your body permanently. So Kat had known her ingredients that well since before she could remember, oh well, she still needed help in potions, most of the time she couldn't sit still long enough to properly brew a potion anyway, and she knew she wasn't planning on using such things excessively, the only reason she was doing this was so she could become an auror.

"I'll see you later, I need to go check something out in a book from the library" Kat told Juliet, standing up.

Juliet laughed "I never though I'd hear that you of all people willfully went to the library! Bye" she called to her friend as Kat walked away toward the castle.

As she made her way toward the library Kat was thinking about what Juliet had said. Could he really like her back? No, but if he did… You see, Kat had started to have feelings for a different guy in the past week or so, a certain person tutoring her in potions. Believe it or not, she was starting to really like Severus, they had a lot in common, and were starting to be pretty good friends.

She figured she'd deal with it later, she entered the library and remembered exactly why she usually avoided the place. It was always so stuffy in there, and the quiet sometimes was unnerving. Oh well, she headed for the table she usually sat at with Severus working on potions, it was right near the potions section after all. She wasn't that surprised to see Severus there, and she smirked, predictable.

She grabbed the book she needed and took a seat across from him and then opened the book, looking for the fact she needed to nicely end off her essay, which was a good foot longer than it had to be. "How did I know you'd be here?" she asked Severus quietly, still scanning the pages, looking for the information she needed.

Severus chuckled, not looking up from his book, and said "After three months of spending time with someone you get to know some of their habits" as a reply.

"True" Kat conceded, she then flattened out her essay on the table and added the last two sentences, having found the fact that she needed. "Mind checking my essay for me?" she asked, putting away her quill and ink, she was pretty sure she had it all right, she just wanted to be sure.

"No, not at all" Severus replied, dog earring the page he was on in his book, closing it, and picking up the essay to read. He scanned over it, a smirk on his face, well, it was perfect, nothing wrong and extra information, he handed it back to her saying "You can expect an 'O' on that". They were getting their work graded the way the NEWTs were graded, and 'O' was the highest grade you could get.

Neither of them saw that behind the book case that was right near the table they were at, someone was watching them. Well, more like watching Kat, but anyway, they just didn't see him.

"Really?" Kat asked, taking back the essay "Awesome! Thanks Severus, look, I'll see you later, I have some plans to make" she said, standing up, she knew he would understand that she meant she was planning a prank.

"Wait, Kat, I was wondering…" Kat turned around to face him again as Severus said this. "Well, will you go to Hogsmead with me this weekend?" he asked nervously. He had to ask, they had been friends for about three months now. A look of faint surprise flicked on Kat's face. On the other side of the book shelf the expression on whoever it was' face was jealous as he watched, waiting for Kat's answer just as hopefully as Severus, but for different reasons, hoping for a different answer.


	4. Stuttering

Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter, only the plot is mine, and I don't make money off of this, no matter how much I wished I owned Rowling's world…

The rest of the date went grandly, in Severus' opinion, and they got back to the castle just as it was getting dark. Severus smiled at Kat and said "I'll walk you to Gryffindor common room" politely and pleasantly. Kat smiled back, a very slight blush coming to her cheeks, and nodded, taking his hand again as they walked toward Gryffindor Tower. They reached the portrait hole and Kat smiled a bit nervously at Severus.

"I, er.. Had a great time today" She said quietly to him, a happy sparkle in her eyes.

"Me too, maybe we could do this again sometime?" Severus asked, also a bit nervous.

"Sounds like a plant to me…" Kat said, hesitating a bit before giving him a swift kiss on the cheek, muttering the password: "Holy Hippogriffs" and disappearing into the GCR, a smile on her face, she had told the truth, she really HAD had a great time. She looked around the common room and saw Juliet, who was looking at her with an expression that clearly read "Spill now or die"

Kat chuckled at the look she was getting from her friend and walked over, taking a seat next to Jules, her friend couldn't take it anymore. "Well? What happened? Did you have a good time? I want details!" she said all in one breath, causing Kat to chuckle once again.

"I had a… nice.. Time" Kat said, purposely being vague, earning a murderous look from Juliet. "Okay, okay, geese, you'd think this date was a life or death matter. We just hung around Hogsmead, went shopping, talked a lot, he likes the same style of music as me, we had a great time and we're probably gunna go out again" she told her friend, a smile on her face.

Juliet let out a bit of a squeak, and gushed to her friend "That's awesome Kat! You two are perfect for each other!" she said excitedly.

"Now all we have to do is set you up with Remus" Kat said in good humor, but she was completely serious. "Oh, by the way, Sirius is an idiot, he decided that he was going to torture Severus because he was out on a date with him, care to join me in not talking to, or even looking at him?" she asked, just throwing that in there as if casually.

"I've told you before, I'll tell you again, the whole me and Remus thing isn't going to happen, just drop it" Juliet replied before hearing about the Sirius incident. She raised an eye brow "Of course, if he's being that moronic, I'd be glad to join you in acting like he isn't there when he is" she agreed, if Kat felt it was necessary, when the other day they had been friends and she still had a crush on him, then it was necessary and she would go along with it.

Meanwhile, out of the GCR…

Severus walked, no floated away from Gryffindor tower, heading for the dungeons, Happy didn't even begin to describe the feeling he had. He wasn't just joyous, he was elated, gleeful, thrilled, even blissful. He had just had a date with the girl he had been pining over since fifth year, and she had had a good time! She wanted to go out with him again! This was amazing. He entered the SCR, not really noticing the glares sent toward him by his fellow Slytherins because he was still floating from his date with Kat.

"Have a good date Severus?" asked one of the other Slytherins, Avery.

"Yes, it was wonderful" Severus answered absentmindedly, his thoughts on the look on Kat's face when she had been smiling earlier.

A girl in the corner of the room snorted at his answer, Bellatrix Black. "I'm so sure you had a wonderful time with the mud blood lover, a Gryffindor, Severus, really? Degrading the house by going out with that -filth-" she said in a low, dangerous voice, talking in a tone that said they all found him quite disgusting.

Severus seemed to snap out of his dream world upon hearing that, and his eyes instinctively narrowed into a glare. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, little yellow star (a/n: Bellatrix ish the name of a little yellow star in the night sky of the northern hemisphere, forget which constellation it is), as I doubt you have ever met someone truly worth talking to in your life without ruling them out because of ill begotten biases," He said to her in a voice of pure venom, realizing this wasn't the place to be saying such things, but they all obviously already hated him for ONE DATE, just because she was a Gryffindor.

"Why don't you just leave? Your obviously not a true Slytherin" Spat another one, this time McNair. Severus look up at him, then around at all the others and made a final decision.

"Fine, you arses, I will leave" He said to them before exiting that SCR and realizing he had no clue where he was going to go. He just wandered the corridors for a while, thinking of a place he could stay in the castle. After wandering for about an hour he found himself at the portrait to the Gryffindor common room, he had no clue how he got there, he just knew somehow that he wanted to talk to Kat, she was really his only friend now after all.

He gave the password Kat had used earlier and looked into the common room from the now open portrait hole. He cleared his throat, seeing Kat right by the fire, sitting there, the light shining off of her beautiful hair, he just looked at her for a few moments before lightly knocking on the frame to the portrait hole and saying "Knock knock" this was, of course, directed at Kat.

Kat looked up from staring at the fire, Juliet had headed up to the dorms early for some reason or other, she was surprised to see that Severus was standing at the portrait hole. She gestured for him to come in and once he had walked over to her she asked "What's up?" just wondering why he was there again.

"The rest of the Slytherins are prats" He said in a pleasant sort of voice, sitting down next to her.

"What did they say or do?" She asked, realizing they must have done SOMETHING to him for him to say that about his friends. So Severus explained the incident with them objecting to him going out with her and how he had wandered around the school only to arrive here and realize he wanted to talk to her. Kat listened with interest and disgust at the other Slytherins, and then realized something, if she wasn't an issue, he'd still have his friends…

"Well, I'll understand if you… don't want to go out with me or hang around me anymore…" she said quietly, it was obvious that she didn't like that idea at all though. She looked away from Severus as she said that to hide the look of sadness she had over that idea, she had no clue how or why, but she really really hated that idea.

"No! I couldn't do that, I.. I love you" He said to her, lifting her head up by placing his hand under her chin and picking it up. It was true, that was how deep his feelings for her were, when he had just stated with her tutoring sessions they hadn't been that strong, but now they were, after getting to know he better. He knew it was absurd to be saying that after just one date, but it just felt right to say, he waited for her reaction, wondering what she would think about it.

"I…er…um...ah…well…" For the first time in her life Kat found herself at a loss for words and stuttering. She didn't know what to say… he LOVED her? She hadn't expected that, like, maybe even adored, but LOVED… she just was unsure of what to say, she was just starting to sincerely like him, and he says THAT.. She didn't love him… yet… she knew that, but she felt like she could grow to love him.

Severus realized she couldn't say it back, and he was trying to think of what to do now, she obviously didn't know what to say, he hung his head, he had probably just ruined his one chance with her… "Well, I guess I'll go, I'll see you… tomorrow" He said quietly, letting her chin go and standing up, before starting toward the portrait hole.

"Wait, Severus, it's just that" Kat started, standing up too, she followed him and took his hand so he couldn't go anywhere. "Look, I just can't say it back… yet. Okay? I like you, I just don't love you at the moment, you understand, right?" she asked, looking like if he didn't understand she'd probably drop dead.

Severus' face brightened, yet, she said yet! This made up for the disaster of the SCR, and him just springing it on her. He smiled at her, one of his rare true smiles, and said "Yeah, I understand, sorry for just.. Springing that on you, well, I've got to figure out where I'm going to stay, so I'll see you at breakfast?" a question in his voice about seeing her in the morning.

"Yeah, it's a date" She said back to him, smiling at him as he nodded and left, she felt like she was going to explode, she had to tell someone… JULES! She ran up to the girl's dorm to tell her best friend about what had just happened, still feeling guilty about him having all the Slytherins hate him because of her, but still happy to hear that from him, even it was after just one date.


	5. WHAT!

Disclaimer: still don't own Harry Potter, wish I did though, and no, I don't make money from this.

Kat woke suddenly, as if she heard a loud noise of something like that, but when she looked around the dorm, she saw that everything was just fine, so she sank back down in her bed and tried to go to sleep again, she just wasn't a morning person. But about a minute later she was jerked back to reality by her alarm clock, which she grabbed and threw at a wall, good thing she had unbreakable charms on it, or it would have broken a loong time ago. She grudgingly got out of bed and got ready for the day, it was Sunday, why she had set her alarm clock she didn't know.

She headed down to the common room, today wearing her combat boots with blue jeans and a Black Sabbath concert T-shirt on. She realized everyone was probably at breakfast, so, still drowsy, she headed for the great hall. She entered to see that indeed, she had been right, everyone was at breakfast, and looked to the Slytherin table to see how Sev was doing, yes, she had already given him a nick name, so? She gave everyone a nick name… or called them by their last names, in this case it was nick name.

She saw him, there were at least eight seats on either side of him, separating him from the other Slytherins, who were snobbishly ignoring him. She got a few stares as she walked in the aisle between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables to go sit with him, she still felt really bad about being the reason he didn't have friends in his own house.

"Morning" She said to him quietly, sitting down beside him. "Find a safe place to stay?" she asked, trying to be as pleasant as possible for her this time in the morning. Severus looked up, surprised, he figured he'd just be sitting alone and he'd see Kat after breakfast was over, apparently she had different plans, he gave her a smirk, it was too early for smiling when he was so out of practice with it.

He nodded and said "Yeah, you know where the room of requirement is?" It cheered him up to know that she cared about that.

"Yeah, good choice" She said, joking, good lord, she was joking this early in the morning, there was something really special about this guy if he was able to make her joke before noon. Then an awkward silence descended upon them, neither sure what to say next, both chose a different knot in the wood of the table to stare at.

Severus finally broke the silence after about five minute, he looked up at her again and said "Look, I'm really sorry about just blurting that out last night, I-" but he was cut off by Kat before he could babble that much of an apology.

"Don't be, I was just surprised by it, and I just can't say it back yet" She said to him, this seemed to ease his nerves and he relaxed. Kat looked around them and realized half of the great hall was staring at her, those in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor in shock, but those in Slytherin with disgust and hate. She looked at the Slytherins again, they seemed murderous, the message was very clear 'leave… NOW!' They didn't like her sitting at their table apparently.

"I'm gunna go sit at the Gryffindor table, your house mates look like their going to kill me…" She said quietly to Severus, he looked up at her again.

"Yeah, okay…" he said as she got up and turned to leave the Slytherin table. He then suddenly stood up too "I'll come with you" he said affectionately, he glared back at his house mates as they headed for the Gryffindor table, still being stared at by half the hall. They chatted a bit through breakfast and then Severus went off to go finish a transfiguration essay he had neglected to do. So Kat was left alone and she headed to the quiddich pitch to get in some flying time.

But as she walked toward the quiddich pitch a wall of fire rose up in front of her, and all she could do was chuckle, knowing what had done that. "DIABLO!" she yelled, humor apparent in her voice. A tiny coal black kitten ran up to her mewing, this was her pet. Diablo controlled fire, she realized she'd be neglecting him a bit lately.

"Come on you manic cat, let's go flying" she said, dropping him in her pocket, yes, he was so small he could ride in her pocket. She continued on her way to the quiddich pitch, the latest broom on the market, the ghost-rider, over her shoulder. It had been a gift from her father, trying to make up for not being around because of work. She reached the pitch and didn't notice someone sitting in the stands, staring off into space, so she just mounted her broom, Diablo crawling out of her pocked to perch on the broom tail, and took off.

About ten minutes later she heard what seemed like someone shouting over the whoosh of air past her ears, so she stopped and rotated her broom so she could see who it was. Ah, him, Sirius, in the stands, perfect, bloody wonderful. She rolled her eyes and lowered her broom and flew down to him. She purposely flew a little too low and he had to duck so his head wouldn't be taken off… he didn't seem to mind.

Kat dismounted and asked bluntly "What do you want?" She was showing him that she still hadn't forgiven him, and that he better make this good or their friend ship would most likely be non existent.

"I wanted to say sorry and to tell you why I acted the way I did" Sirius answered her, looking away, she hated him right now, and he could swallow his pride and admit that he was an idiot. He waited for her to yell or something, or be all cold toward him… but she didn't.

"Then shoot" Kat said simply, in a voice that showed she'd listen but she was getting a bit impatient with him. She was eyeing him wearily, as if she expected him to take out his wand and start hexing her like he did to Severus or something.

"Look" Sirius said, still not looking at her "I really really like you, I've liked you as more than a friend for a long time now… I guess I just sort of got… jealous" He explained, finally looking up at her with his last word. To his surprise Kat started chuckling quietly, as if she found something immensely funny.

"You know, if you had asked me out even a week ago, you might have had a chance" She explained, seeing the bewildered look on his face. "I've had a crush on you since first year Sirius, problem is, that it doesn't exactly exist anymore, if you had acted I probably would have been in Hogsmead with you in stead of Severus yesterday, I stopped waiting for you, and I'm not going to break Severus' heart just because a guy I used to have a school girl crush on likes me, because Severus loves me, and I've moved on, sorry Sirius, hope we can still be friends." With that she mounted her broom and took off again, leaving behind a very crushed and confused looking Sirius.

She practiced her flying for a few more minutes before landing and heading back toward the school, Diablo now running along beside her in stead of getting a ride, she was still trying to figure out exactly where she was with her feelings for Severus, she knew it wasn't love yet, she just didn't know what it WAS that she had for him… so it was a tad confusing. She went up to Gryffindor tower and spent the rest of the day hanging around with Jules, they hadn't hung out much lately.


	6. Not Mattie

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter… still, working on it though, I'm not making money off this, only the characters you don't recognize from anywhere else and the plot are mine… you know the drill..

The month flew by and it was now the end of December, there was a ball the night before all the students going home for the holidays left, and one Juliet Callista was looking excitedly for her best friend. She darted into the common room, where she was pretty sure she'd find Kat, and sure enough there was her best friend, and Severus… Kat was always hanging around with Severus, since he told her he loved her that time… well, she needed to talk to Kat… NOW, so Sev would just have to let her steal her best friend for a few minutes.

"Kat! I got to talk to you, now!" Juliet said, interrupting her best friend in the middle of saying something, yep, she really, really wanted to tell Kat about this. Kat seemed a bit amused at her friend's sudden entrance and interruption, she realized this must be important to Jules.

Sev seemed amused too, and stood up "I'll see you later then" he said to Kat, giving her hand a squeeze before letting it go, they had been holding hands when Jules had rushed in. Severus was beginning to be somewhat of a regular in the GCR, it wasn't his common room, but it was one place they could go where they would get the least amount of stares from people. He exited the room and headed to the library, he had a Herbology essay to finish, so he might as well do that.

"So what's up?" Kat asked Jules with a smirk, but somehow feeling a bit, well, sad that Sev wasn't there… let's just say she was getting a bit attached. But anyway, she looked at Jules inquiringly as, now calm, she sat down in the seat Severus had vacated.

"Well… you know the dance in a couple days?" she asked, now choosing to keep her friend waiting to hear her news.. Because, well, Kat would probably want to hear it now.

"Yeah?" Kat asked, wondering what the hell this was about.

"Well… someone… asked me, and I have a date with… someone" Jules said cryptically.

"And who is that someone?" Kat replied with another question, now getting a bit annoyed.

"Well, I've liked him since this summer…" Jules started, and then Kat let out a bit of a squeak, which was very un-Kat-like, but Jules had said that they didn't have a chance.

"Your going with Remus?? I told you you should go for it!" Kat said, going with the 'I told you so' way of saying you were right all along, she HAD told Jules that all along after all. Juliet turned as red as a quaffle, which made Kat burst out laughing and the girls chatted for a while, talking about what they would wear, how they would have their hair, and all that girly stuff that came with dressing up and going to a ball.

They both settled on completely different things, Kat decided that she'd wear her hair down all in separate small braids with her blood red dress robes and red high healed sandals. Jules however was putting her hair up into a bun and wearing light blue dress robes, and white open-toe high heals. When they came down from the girl's dorms to meat their dates both Severus and Remus looked like they were in awe.

They had a great time, the only thing that could have spoiled the evening for Severus and Kat was the fact that they kept getting stares from the other people there, with was sort of understandable as Kat used to participate in "Weakly Snape Torture" and Severus used to claim to despise all Gryffindors, but by the end of the night Kat had yelled at a few Slytherins, and flicked off a group of Ravenclaws, which Severus seemed to find highly amusing.

Severus walked Kat back to the common room after another highly enjoyable date, they separated with a quick hug and as Kat entered the common room she saw Juliet, crimson colored, give Remus a swift kiss on the cheek before darting up the girl's dorm stairs. Kat smirked at Remus, whom also was a deep shade of red, as she crossed the GCR, before heading up the girl's dorm stairs to go find Juliet, she wanted to know EVERYTHING.

The two girls chatted late into the night, since Kat was leaving the next day it would be the last chance they would get for two weeks, while she was away with her family for the holidays. Apparently Juliet and Remus were now an item, Juliet had hit a stroke of luck, Remus was the only guy she had ever liked, and she was hoping this would go somewhere, because she confided in Kat that as the night went on, the more she talked with him the more she liked him, upon hearing this information Kat confessed that it was the same with how she felt about Severus.

The next day Kat was very grateful that there weren't that many people going home for the holidays, because no one was gawking at them as she and Severus shared a long good-bye hug. Kat had said good bye to Jules at the school, but Severus had come with her to the train platform in Hogsmead to say good bye to her just before she boarded the Hogwarts Express. "Well, I'll see you in two weeks…" Kat said quietly once the whistle to the train blew, signaling that it was about to leave the station. She picked up her book bag, she didn't have to bring that much home, and slung it over her shoulder, Diablo took this opportunity to jump up and sit on her head.

Severus smirked at the kitten and said "Yeah, in two weeks then," he stood there and watched her walk away and board the train, then hand out an open window, waving good bye to him as the train disappeared into the distance.

Kat simply sat in an empty compartment and stared out the window she had been previously waving out of. The only reason she was even going home for "Christmas" (She's wiccan, the only reason she celebrates it is because the rest of her family does) was because she needed to talk to her dad, he had an important job at the ministry of magic, because of this job the Willows family was rich, even richer than the Malfoys, but not as well known. His job also prevented him from being around… at all, he was always working, and Kat barely ever saw him, he saw her so little that there was the rare occasion when he would forget her name, yes, that's happened to her.

But he was always home on Christmas, and she was looking to become an auror, he might be able to help her with that, and she wanted this settled now, not when she was actually done with school and had to come crawling back. She was planning to move out right after seventh year was over, she didn't have it worked out completely, and she'd probably live in the Willows mansion for about a month after, but she was defiantly going to move out.

Why was she so interested in moving out you ask? Well, you see, Kat's biological mother died while Kat herself was being born, so now she had a step mother… Carol. Carol had made Kat a slave in her own home from the time she could walk, Kat now had a half brother, Jake, whom was one year younger than her, and a half sister, Mattie, who was six years younger than her. She hated Carol, but of course, loved her siblings, Mattie could get annoying, and sometimes Jake was obnoxious, but she still loved them.

Speaking of her siblings, Jake was staying at Hogwarts, he was a sixth year, but Mattie too was coming home, having just come to Hogwarts this year. The 'little midget' as Kat liked to call her found her older sister about mid train ride, and they managed to have a conversation that didn't give Kat a headache, which was a surprise, because Kat usually found Mattie so annoying that she couldn't stay in the same room with her for over five minutes.

Once they got off the train, Diablo having had enough of sitting on Kat's head, they heard an unmistakable voice… Carol.

"Mattie! Welcome back!" She called as Mattie ran into her mother's arms. Kat stood beside them, bored, Diablo sitting by her feet. "Well? Take Mattie's things to the car" Her step mother hissed at her, Kat rolled her eyes and grabbed Mattie's trunk, apparently she found it necessary to bring everything she had at Hogwarts home with her. She loaded the things in the car and took a seat on the passenger's side in the front, Diablo on her lap, just as Carol and Mattie were getting in the car.

Once they reached the mansion Kat pretty much locked herself in her wing of the building, she had the whole east wing to herself, so it was comfortable to be locked away from the rest of the family, she didn't see any of them until Christmas day arrived, aside from a glimpse of carol glaring at her as she performed a ritual for Yule in the back yard. But she was woken up Christmas morning by Mattie jumping on her bed and yelling something about presents and a beautiful eagle owl with a package for her.

She wondered who the package could be from because she had been under the impression that all of her presents came the night before, on Christmas eve, they had been sent down from the school since she wasn't there to get her presents from her friends. She got out of bed and went down the grand stair case into the entrance hall and through the grand door way, with no door, that lead from the entrance hall to the main living room, where there was a huge tree, loads of presents (Most for Mattie) and an eagle owl, a letter and a small package tied to it's leg. There was, also, of course, her sister, step mother, and father.

She crossed the room, nodding to her father in greeting and ignoring her step mother, and took the letter from the owl and the package, The owl hooted and took off again, flying out of the living room and to an open window where it took off in the general direction of Scotland. She immediately recognized the hand writing, it was from Severus, she had seen his hand writing on his potions notes when he had been tutoring her an awful lot after all. She smiled as she opened the letter and began to read.

Dear Kat,

Happy Christmas, I know you've only been gone a few days, but I already miss you. Everything's pretty much the same here, except the other Slytherins are being a bit more civil and I've been able to move back into the Slytherin dorms. I hope you're having a great vacation so far, and I hope you like your gift, it took me forever to decide on. Oh, and I figured you might want to know that Juliet has been spending increasing amounts of time with Lupin, and that dunderhead, Black, has finally stopped trying to make my life living hell. I hope you're getting along well with your family, though I know that may be acting too much on your step mother's part, but anyway, I'll see you after the new year has begun.

Love,

Severus

Kat grinned at it, seeing the 'Love' a slight blush came to her cheeks, she put down the letter and unwrapped the package, to find a velvet covered box, which she snapped open and gasped, it was… beautiful. A charm necklace basically, with a pendant that was a heart with diamonds outlining it,, the middle was cut out in a heart shape, there were a few charms already on it, a snitch, for quiddich, a guitar, for the type of music she enjoyed, rock, a gold star that held Amethyst, her birth stone since she was born on Valentine's day, and a silver symbol she knew meant Aquarius, once again, thanks to her birthday.

It was beautiful, she loved it, and she immediately put it on, the diamonds on the heart gave off a blue tint right away, she realized that it was to go with her mood, amazing, Severus was amazing, this was too much, it must have cost a lot, she really hoped he liked what she got HIM… She was unaware that Mattie, Carol, and her father were staring at her until she finally looked away from the mirror hanging on the wall she had been looking in to stare at her necklace some more, her step mother was obviously envious of her for getting such a gift, and her father seemed to be questioning silently who it was from, she realized that none of her family know about Severus.

She grinned sheepishly and muttered "It's from my boyfriend," scooping up the letter and pocketing it before Mattie had a chance to take it and read it. She went back to her other presents, getting a load of pranks stuff from her other friends, and a brand new broom from her father. She got a chance around mid-day to talk to her father, and he said that he would put in a good word for her at the auror's department.

Soon enough she was requested to watch Mattie by her step mother, Carol was choosing to ignore the fact that Mattie had outgrown needing to be watched years ago. She and her father were going out for Christmas dinner with some friends, she knew that meant that they'd be drunk when they came home, it was the same every year. She reluctantly agreed, not really wanting to spend that much time around the little midget, but she realized that Mattie might just do something like use magic out of school and get expelled without her supervision.

Her "Parents" left around seven and everything went fine for a while, she was playing poker with Mattie for chocolate frog cards around eight, when someone all of a sudden burst through the door, making a lot of noise doing so. Well, a few someones, three people in black cloaks, wearing masks, she couldn't see who they were, but knew this wasn't good "MATTIE, HIDE!" she yelled to her sister, taking out her wand, Kat wasn't in Gryffindor for nothing, these were older wizards who most likely knew a whole lot more spells than her, but she pulled out her wand and stood strong anyway.

She only hoped that Mattie had hidden herself as she cast the full body bind on one of them, only to have it rebound and hit her with full force, making her land with a gruesome crash on the floor, and the robed men, she could tell they were men, started searching for something. Horror struck her as she heard Mattie protesting, and she was dragged right in front of Kat's rigid form, she watched as her little sister writhed in agony from the crutatious curse.

The last thing she saw before all went black, two hours later, was her now insane sister being killed by a simple twist of a wrist, having her neck snapped in half, that image was burned into her brain, as were the images of little Mattie, the eleven year old, screaming and twitching on the floor, being tortured, not her sister, not Mattie.

When she woke up all she saw was white light, then she started to be able to distinguish shapes, and she sat bolt upright, she was in a hospital, she recognized this room… St. Mungo's. She looked around, realizing she had a pounding head ache, and the events of Christmas night come back to her, she lets herself fall back on the bed again… Mattie…. But, why was she here? Surly after Mattie they would have moved on to her.. But no, she was alive.. Why had they not killed her? She saw that her father was sitting in the chair next to her asleep, and her step mother was in a bed next to her, apparently having chosen not to be polite and sit in the chair, Carol had always hated her anyway, she wasn't surprised, in Carol's mind Kat was the mistake.

She looked at her father again though, since when did he care about HER? He always ignored her, forgot her name, he knew some of his assistants better than he knew her. She let herself drift off into sleep again, where she was greeted by night mares of Mattie screaming for help. She was shaken awake and then given some sort of potion, and she fell into sleep, this time she dreamt of nothing.

A day later Kat was aloud out of the Hospital and she attended Mattie's wake and funeral, Jake had come home, and she was asked to speak, she didn't, she couldn't stand it, she didn't even cry. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't grieve, she wasn't going to allow herself to. She knew she was still in shock from seeing it, she had learned from her father that they had been sent by a rising dark wizard named Voldemort, and that he was an enemy of Voldemort, that had been all she needed to know.

Dumbledore made a personal house call, said she and Jake could stay home away from Hogwarts for a while if they needed to, said he understood, but how could he? Kat needed a way to get her mind off of what she saw, so she was able to see for the first time in her like Albus Dumbledore completely bewildered, when she told him she intended to return to Hogwarts at the appointed time, Jake opted to stay home and comfort his devastated mother. She had reached a decision that no one was to know she saw Mattie die, no one was to know Mattie even was dead, she wouldn't talk about it.

She returned to school with the other students coming back from Holidays, and intended to just go to the girl's dorms and go to sleep, not talk to anyone, she wasn't exactly ready for friendly human contact at the moment, she made her way toward Gryffindor tower, grateful that her friends hadn't been waiting on the train platform, but ice hit her stomach and she froze on the spot a she saw that Severus was waiting by the portrait hole to the common room, probably waiting to welcome her home, and… ask how things went.

a/n: You have my friend Luna to tank for this chapter, she's one of my two crazed fans, hope you like it Luna, hope it's up to my usual standards, oh, did I mention how much I love reviews? I really do! They make my day and inspire me to write more! Oh, and if you have constructive criticism, or didn't like it, let me know, IF you don't like my story, tell me why and I might be able to become a better writer for it! In short… REVIEW!!! Lolz


	7. Sulking

Kat had stopped dead, literally, no, she wasn't dead, but her heart had stopped and she wasn't breathing. She looked at Severus as he saw her, smiled, and said "Welcome back, Kat!" He was obviously glad to see her back. She just took a deep breath, averted her eyes, moved forward again, gave the password to the common room, and walked strait into the GCR, across the room, and up to the girl's dorms, where she climbed into her four poster bed and drew the curtains around, planning on a good sulk.

She never saw the crushed, concerned look on Severus' face. It wasn't until two hours later that she had moved at all, and hat was just to reach out of the curtains and grab the first object on her bureau she could find, a quill, and to take out her wand, to transfigure the quill into a razor blade. No, she wasn't trying to kill herself, but she just felt so numb. She needed to feel… something, she needed to know she was really alive, so she cut.

She cut herself, shallow, bleedy slices on her legs, a place she could easily cover up, no one ever had to know but her, she just had to feel something, she needed the pain. She didn't come out of the dorm room until the next day, when classes would start up again, good, she needed a distraction. So she got out of bed, went and took a shower, not caring that she was letting blood flow to the drains, did a spell to close her cuts so no one would notice, got the rest of the way ready, ignored everyone and went to her first class without even looking at food, apparently starving herself was on the agenda too.

Severus had watched Kat walk past him.. And felt his heart drop to the floor. He had seen her, greeted her… she had ignored him as if she had no clue who he was, he had seen the look of determination on her face, there were two possibilities here, something was wrong so she was avoiding him, or she didn't want them to be together anymore so she was avoiding him… there was no way around the fact that she had clearly avoided him.

So now he was wondering what was wrong, because he didn't even want to think about the other option. After thinking on it late into the night, while he probably should have been sleeping, he decided he would ask her about what had happened over the holidays, since there were too many options for what could have happened available to him, and he didn't want to assume wrong.

So the next day, when she wasn't in the great hall for breakfast, he was a little disappointed, he had really missed her for those two weeks, now she was avoiding him, and everyone else it seemed, he really wanted to find out now. Luckily, she was in potions… in the front of the class… next to a Gryffindor he didn't know, he had never seen Kat with this girl before, and they weren't talking.

Avoiding Severus and Jules was getting harder, Severus seemed to be purposefully stalking her, and she shared a dorm with Jules. Kat had been back from home a week and a half now and had not talked to anyone, not showing up for breakfast or lunch, seen studying in the library. That very sight had almost given a poor fifth year a heart attack, Kat was never seen studying, let alone in the library, unless it was one of her tutoring sessions with Severus, and she had stopped with those since getting back from the holidays.

Meanwhile, while Kat was in the library, Severus was meeting with Juliet to try and figure out a way to get Kat to tell them what was wrong.

"Has she even talked to you?" That was Jules, she and Severus were sitting in the room of requirement while they talked.

Severus just shook his head and said "The only time she's even shown her face around me is across the room in classes and across the great hall during meals."

Juliet sighed "She's never in the common room anymore, she hides behind the curtains of her four poster, she sits alone purposely at meals, I think I even saw her studying in the library the other day," her voice was quizzical and slightly miserable as she spoke. She looked like she wasn't getting much sleep, and her grades had been dropping, Jules was going into a depression because of Kat's behavior.

"We need to do something about this" Severus said determinedly.

"What, like, confront her and don't let her leave until she tells us?" Jules asked, since they had tried just about everything else.

"Exactly" Came the simple reply.

They could see her, Kat was outside, it was now the beginning of February, they had decided to give her more time to tell them herself before they actually confronted her. Well, her birthday was approaching, it was now or never. So it was with similar feelings of impending doom that Severus and Juliet crossed the grounds to go talk to Kat.

As they approached her she looked up, as if she sensed their presence. She didn't say anything, just jumped down from the tree, she should have expected this sooner or later, but she just wanted to forget all about everything. "Hey Kat.." "Hi" first Severus greeted her, then Juliet, she didn't say anything to them, just waited for the inevitable.

"We need to talk" Juliet informed her best friend.

"No, you want me to talk, there's a difference" Kat replied coldly, her voice hoarse from disuse.

"No, we want you to share with us what's wrong and then help you feel better" Severus corrected good naturedly.

"I don't want to talk about it" Again, a cold, simple reply from Kat.

"Please Kat, just tell us, we miss you, we want to help you" Juliet's voice was pleading.

Kat simply looked at each of them in turn, then started walking toward the castle without a word. She wasn't going to say it out loud, it would completely finalize it, she wanted to act like it had never happened, but couldn't yet, so she wanted to make a new life, be a new person so she could forget what she saw. Severus and Juliet chased after her, Severus got to her first and simply grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

"Please Kat, you're killing me here, tell me what's wrong.." This time it was Severus' voice that was pleading.

Kat looked as if she were about to cry.


	8. The Confession

"Please tell me Kat, please, I want to help you, I want to make you feel better, I want to be part of your Ilife/I again" Severus pleaded with her, burring his head in her shoulder. Juliet had the sense to stand back a bit, this was a bit of a person moment for both Severus and Kat, that was obvious to her, but she was near enough to hear it if Kat chose to finally inform them of what was wrong.

Kat had stopped completely still, and all of a sudden she just started crying, sobbing and crumpling to the ground she clung to Severus. "I..I-I Saw Mattie be murdered!" She managed through her sudden outbreak of sobs, it was the first time she had actually cried over her sister's death. Juliet gasped and stepped forward, kneeling down by Kat while Severus held her in his arms.

Severus himself felt horrible, he had only met Mattie a few times, and now.. Oh god, he just held her in his arms, rubbing her back in small circles and saying soft, comforting things. Juliet just put a hand on her shoulder, letting Kat know she was there. They were all ignoring the fact that they were all now being soaked in snow, since they were now all on the ground.

Kat just cried, still clinging to Severus she burrowed closer into his chest, and after about ten minutes she began to calm down, and after that it took five more minutes to stop crying all together. That was when she remembered they were all outside.. In the snow… soaking wet… and freezing. "C.. can we go inside?" She asked quietly, gaining a half-felt chuckle from Juliet.

Severus nodded, standing up and helping her up, immediately wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he wasn't planning on leaving her alone much, he wanted to make sure she was happy. They walked inside together, and went to the room of requirement, Severus and Juliet just thinking of whatever Kat might need. The entered to find a comfortable looking sofa, a roaring fire, a fluffy teddy bear and a huge pile of chocolate.

This caused Juliet to seem a bit amused but at the same time really sad about what happened with Mattie. She waited for Severus to steer Kat over to the couch before walking over and sitting on Kat's other side as she clutched the bear to her chest and grabbed a bar of chocolate. Chocolate, it had always been Kat's feel-good food.

For those of you who are curious, there IS a reason. Chocolate contains a natural 'love drug'. Tryptophan is a chemical that the brain uses to make a neurotransmitter called serotonin. High levels of serotonin can produce feelings of elation, even ecstasy - hence the name of the designer drug that also works by increasing serotonin levels.

So in other words, chocolate makes you happy for a biological reason. Kat wasn't crazy. Well, she was… but she wasn't messed up in the head. Sitting, hugging a teddy bear, in a cozy warm room, eating chocolate would help her out. So that's what she did, talking quietly with Severus and Juliet, who were just there for her, not minding much because they were concerned about her.

After a while Kat looked up at the clock, then to Jules and Severus "You guys can go you know, you don't need to stay here with me.. I don't want to be a burden, this is my problem…" She said quietly, then sniffed a bit because she had cried a bit more after a while and even now silent tears were pouring down her cheeks.

Severus, who had had his arm around her shoulders most of this time, just pulled her closer to him. He wasn't going anywhere any time soon. He looked at Juliet, who he knew would probably want to stay too, but he sort of wanted some alone time with Kat to talk one on one, or even to just sit by the fire. Something. Juliet got the hint and stood up, giving Kat a sympathetic, caring smile, Severus loosened up a bit and Jules gave Kat a hug, muttering "I'll see you later" before leaving.

Severus held her tightly again, letting Kat lean on him. She hadn't put down the teddy bear, though she was done with the chocolate for now. "You know, that wasn't just to Jules" Kat said again, though she sounded like she didn't really want him to leave all that much.

Severus gave her a kiss on the top of the head before replying with "I don't want to leave you though" quietly. Then there was silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was a comforting one, one in which Kat finally though all this through.

Kat's POV:

Gods, I can't believe this is actually happening. No, happened, it's in past tense by now. Mattie… it's not fair! It's not like anyone deserves this, but especially not her. She was so.. Innocent. She was a first year! Defenseless… It's just wrong. Bad things aren't supposed to happen to good people. Okay, I knew it wasn't true before, it's just.. I COULD believe it was true before. I didn't have proof that it was wrong.. Now all that's out the window.

I'm not going to let this happen. It's not fair. I can't do anything about Mattie. But I can help stop it from happening to other people. Other innocent people. I shouldn't of said those things to her. I told her I hated her, I won't be able to take it back. She died thinking I thought she was just annoying. Oh, I hate myself…

Author's POV:

They sat there in silence, Kat staring at the fire, Severus watching Kat or looking into the fire also, for hours. The next thing Kat knew she was opening her eyes, tucked safely in Severus' arms, the room had apparently changed her into blood red PJs, Severus' were green. They were still on the couch, and she felt very content to just stay there, leaning on Severus, as he hadn't woken up yet, not wanting to wake him up by moving.

She noticed the time and repressed a curse, it was Monday. They had classes. They were late for Transfiguration. She eased out of Severus' arms, not really wanting to get up, then shook him lightly "Sev, wake up, we fell asleep, we're late" She said in a soft voice. Severus, being a light sleeper, woke up, smiling seeing her there, then his face falling when he saw the clock also, the room immediately changed their PJs back to school robes, made a vanity mirror for them to clean up with a sink, and glad that they didn't have to run back to their dorms they swiftly got ready, grabbing their book bags which, presumably, a house elf brought up.

They sped through the halls, toward the transfiguration class room and burst in in the middle of McGonagall's lecture. "Sorry we're late.." Severus muttered in a respectful tone. They heard snickers from their class mates as they took the last two seats at the back of the class room. McGonagall gave hem both a stern look and said in a reprimanding tone "Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin, don't let it happen again"

Kat sank down in her seat, it wasn't their fault but she wasn't going to protest, it would just lose her more points, and that would be bad. She glared back at the snickering students and the ones who glanced back at them, listening and taking notes as McGonagall continued her lecture.

They were working on human transfiguration, and apparently they were going to try changing each other's eye color next class. Kat found this extremely boring. Not like eye color changing was useful…


End file.
